Best Race...Ever!

Wow, my first post on the brand new blog gets to be about my best finish ever (2nd of 18) in the pro category. After a strong start to the season at the Rampage followed by a not so great DNF at Cholla, I was hoping to bring my A game to 5 Mile. As always, I go too hard from the gun, but it was nice to pull away from the field for a bit and not eat dust at the start line. A few miles in, I looked over my shoulder and Bart Gillespie was on my wheel. I hung with him until the back part of the first lap where I managed to nail a rock with my back wheel in a gravel-filled wash and go down. I guess that's the price of trying to ride above your ability level since Bart is pretty amazing. Fortunately, nothing was broken and I got back on track pretty quick.

Coming through into the final lap Alisha yelled that someone was behind me and I looked over my shoulder to see Alex Grant less than a minute behind and ready to crush me. Good thing I had a little gas left in the tank (probably from being hopped up on power gels) and widened the gap on the last lap. Gillespie ran away with the "W" by ten minutes and I got Grant by 3 minutes for second. It was a good day for the Kuhl/Scott team with podium finishes for several riders and KDay taking 5th in pro. Thanks to Alisha for taking her whole Saturday to hand me bottles and sit out in the sun and dust. Also, she's taking pretty good care of me since my knee has swollen up from my crash and I've been hobbling around all day. Looks like it may be a couple days before I'm back in the saddle, but I can't complain since it wasn't until a few hours after the race that it stiffened up.